New Yorker Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) is on the verge of losing his dead-end job as a jingle writer.  He flies to London for the weekend to attend his daughter's wedding, but promises to be back on Monday morning for an important meeting - or else.  Harvey arrives in London to find that his daughter has arranged for her stepfather (James Brolin) to walk her down the aisle.  Devastated, Harvey leaves the wedding before the reception in hopes of getting to the airport on time, but misses the plane anyway.  When he calls his boss to explain, he is promptly fired.  Drowning his sorrows at the airport bar, he falls into conversation with Kate (Emma Thompson), a sensitive, 40-something employee of the Office of National Statistics.  Kate, whose life is limited to work, the occasional humiliating blind date and endless phone calls from her smothering mother (Eileen Atkins), is touched by Harvey, who finds himself energized by her intelligence and compassion.  The growing connection between the pair inspires both as they unexpectedly transform one another's lives.